Even the American Government Has the Capacity to Evolve!

In looking through a timeline provided by the Office of the Secretary of the United States Department of Education, it can be seen that the journey to incorporate technology into the classroom has been quite a long one. This timeline only shows important events that happened under President Clinton's administration (1993-2000). Just in those seven years, a major shift in governmental focus on technology is clearly evident. Originally, and logically, we focused on giving teachers and students access to technology. This included computers and connection to the internet. This initiative is still a work in progress, as some schools may not have full access for each student. The interesting thing to note here: in early 2000 this focus became much less important as the need for cyber safety found its way to the top.

As more students gained access to the internet, more policies had to be made to be sure that students were using that technology appropriately. I have noticed that since the beginning of internet safety policies, there has been an exponential growth in the focus this issue has received. I remember getting computers in the late 1990s at school and I remember being taught, very firmly, about what it meant to be a good cyber citizen. There were many workshops, convocations, and sessions that we, as students, got to sit through and I'm sure there were just as many for the teachers.

It is my hope that cyber safety doesn't end up on the back burner as new complications arise that fall into the narrow focus of the government. Looking back, I think the whole cyber safety thing was overly done. It seems that there was a "cyber safety scare" and that everyone jumped on the bandwagon to help bring awareness of what it means to be a responsible cyber citizen. Unfortunately, I don't see a lot of the aforementioned methods of bringing this issue to students anymore. It seems like we got scared, then thought, "Oh, good. We did our job. Students know how to be good on the internet now." and we forgot to continue the efforts to keep students informed!